Neighborhood associations make it possible for local residents to have agreater influence over issues,programs and projects that affect their neighborhoods.

They offer a local forum for citizen deliberation of key issues at the local level and provide a recognizedvehicle for communicating citizen views’ to City Hall

EARN FRONTIER

Next Meeting ; December 16, 2013 ---- Speaker to be announced

East Allentown RittersvilleNeighborhood Association

MINUTES

President Dennis Pearson called the regular monthly meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. on November 18, 2013 at St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Present: Three officers (Dennis Pearson, Denton Kriebel, and Dave Schell) and eleven other neighbors were present at the meeting.

Dave Schell handed out copies of the minutes of the meeting of October 21, 2013. There was one correction to the minutes—the correct address of the overgrown property on S. Jerome Street is 7 S. Jerome, not 3 S. Jerome as described in the minutes. It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion carried.

President Pearson noted that EARN received a generous donation of $100 from the Midway Manor Association for the lights display. A letter of thanks will be sent. The lights will go up in the near future, again with the generous assistance of PPL’s bucket truck. The display will include a large inflated Siberian Huskie and several other new inflatable displays.

(Treasurer Robert Jacoby arrived at the meeting.)

Pearson read a letter to City Council from Mayor Ed Pawlowski dated November 1st concerning city budgetary matters and the new development in the center city area and the area along the Lehigh River.

Secretary Dave Schell read an email he had sent to Phyllis Alexander on November 10th about the Irving Park tennis courts lights being on all night. Alexander forwarded the matter to Rick Holtzman, Superintendent of Parks, who said that he would see it was taken care of. The matter was fixed within a day.

Pearson read several articles concerning East Side matters from the Morning Call. Subjects included disposition of the prostitution charges at Platinum Plus and various robbery and other crime news from the East Side.

We are continuing to have trouble with oversized trucks being unable to make the corner of N. Maxwell Street and E. Gordon Street.

The old Mosser School at S. Carlisle Street and E. Union Street appears to have had some of the electrical hookups disconnected. It had been used for apartments and had a fire. It needs to be rehabilitated before it can again be occupied. The neighborhood association will monitor the situation so that it does not turn into an abandoned property.

It was noted that the speed limit monitor on Jerome Street has been removed. Additionally, Schell reported that he received an email following the October meeting to the effect noting that the city cannot use this for enforcement purposes. The unit will record how many people go past at various speeds, but cannot be used for individual enforcement by cities in Pennsylvania.

As to the matter of trees that are located on a neighbor’s land but causing difficulty on one’s own property, we have been informed by the city that unless trees are hurting the sidewalks the city has no jurisdiction. Additionally, if the tree is cut and dies or topples the person who did the cutting may be responsible for damages.

There are renovations taking place at the former site of Tony’s Bar on Union Boulevard. There is an official notice on the property, which we will have to investigate. There is still a problem with build up of trash and with tree and shrubbery trimmings on the property, which is causing a continuing rodent property. There is also a large number of Redner’s shopping carts throughout the neighborhood. It was suggested that when a person sees a Redner’s cart he or she calls the store since the carts are sufficiently costly that the market will send someone to collect them.

Jacoby noted that he and Dennis could use some help in patching and installing the Christmas decorations. If you have time to help, please call Dennis.

Question: Who is responsible for Americans with Disabilities Act matters in the city? It was suggested that the neighbor call Phyllis Alexander for information on this. There was also a question as to the size of garbage containers that are allowed since the city has started refusing to take a 50-gallon container, saying that it is too large. The office of recycling and solid waste can answer this question, and the information is also on the city website.

It was moved that the current officers of the association be returned to office for 2013-2014. There was no objection to the motion and the motion carried.

There being no further business, adjournment was moved and seconded, and the meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.